Dreamweavers - Kirby's Insane Halloween III
by Claude the Author
Summary: No matter how real or terrifying our dreams and nightmares can be, that's all they are... the Smashers will wish that were still true when their dreams start to seep into reality.
1. CH 1: Recurrence

**Dreamweavers - Kirby's Insane Halloween III**

 **By ClaudeLv250**

 **Introduction:** You didn't think I'd stop at 2, did you? Anyways, it's that time of year again, and in the spirit of the holiday, I'm writing Halloween based fiction again!

When we succumb to sleep at night, it can be like flipping a coin: you can have pleasant dreams, or you may experience terrifying nightmares. And no matter how bleak or bizarre our nightmares may be, they can always feel excruciatingly real while we're experiencing them... the Smashers have this problem on a whole new level when their dreams and nightmares start to seep into reality. Who or what is causing the materialization of their greatest recurring fears?

 **Disclaimer:** Super Smash Bros. and all related characters are the property of Nintendo. I whipped up all original characters except for any real people that might appear in the story. Don't sue me – I just like to write!

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1 – Recurrence (In Your Dreams)**_

Dreams are funny, the way they don't have to follow any rules. I've dreamt that I've been friends with people I've never met in my life, and I've dreamt that I've had to go back to certain places I never want to see again based on really flimsy reasons that felt legit until I woke up and thought about it. I've gone weeks without having any memorable dreams and then I can have four or five rapid, back to back, completely unrelated dreams all in one night. I've even had lucid dreams, where I turned the tides against whatever my subconscious was throwing my way. I've experienced the whole dream spectrum... mostly.

What I don't have are recurring dreams.

And that is why these past few days have been so weird.

It's happening again. This dream starts at the same place every time. I'm on a small sheet of ice, a frozen pond or something, and I'm surrounded by nothing but hills of snow and ice. The sky is overcast and the clouds are speckled with odd, glittering lights. It's cold – colder than it has any right to be – and I should be frozen down to my bones, but I can bear it.

I don't know why I'm here. The "why" doesn't matter, for some reason. I start exploring by heading north. I don't know if it's actually north, I just tell myself that it is. I always head in this direction. There are trees blanketed in snow and purple flowers blooming. Occasionally, I will come across rainbow-colored snowflake patterns drawn atop the snow itself. I don't examine this phenomenon because, over the hills of snow, I can see the dark silhouette of buildings in the distance.

Those signs of civilization do nothing to quell that fear and anxiety brimming inside of me, that feeling that something really bad happened here and will happen again if I stay too long. There's no one else here but me, there hasn't been anyone for ages, and no one is ever coming back.

One silhouette eventually separates into three as I draw closer. A mass of dark buildings represents the first silhouette; there are no lights or signs of life. Smoke stacks billow above the second, a factory no doubt. Activity from the factory when the city is practically dead awakens deep reservations inside of me. I choose to go to the third silhouette, its entrance lined with old lamp posts like a parking lot. This must be a mall or shopping center. For the first time, I don't feel that crushing loneliness as I slog through the snow and ice.

Inside, the mall is bright and populated with an assortment of small, colorful creatures. Something tells me to keep my distance and I obey. My eyes sweep the mall for signs of – what am I looking for? Something catches my attention, steals my eyesight. I can't look away. My body grows numb and cold, colder than it ever was outside. Above the creatures is a dark object shaped like a cape or cloaked, billowing in the absence of wind. It's some kind of window into another existence, a stretch of eternity. My vision rockets by countless stars, oddly shaped planets, galaxies, nebula...

I finally wrench myself away, looking at anything but that _thing_. It threatened to swallow me up – it will swallow me up if I stay here! I move so fast that I barely notice that the escalators I'm racing up are actually conveyor belts. When I hit the third floor I cut into a hallway where I can't make eye contact with that thing again and wait for my heart to stop trying to beat its way out of my chest.

Some deep breaths later, I decide this is my path. Malls have multiple exits, I can get out of here without coming across whatever that tear in the fabric of space was; that's how I rationalize it. I continue down the hallway and there's a computer terminal here. It jolts something inside of me. That's it, that's what I need! _They need to know._ I practically lunge for the keyboard and...

* * *

My eyelids slid open and I took in the plain white wall of my bedroom. I jumped out of my bed, grabbed the water bottle from my desk and let the sunlight filtering through the window shades kiss my skin with warmth in the autumn chill. Why does this keep happening?

Like I said before, I didn't have recurring dreams until this one. The last time I had it, I woke up as soon as I entered the mall. There's never been anything like that billowing _tear_ in space before. I've told myself that the dream didn't mean anything. Just a weird phase my subconscious is going through. But it's getting harder to deny that it's having an impact on me, even moreso because my hand holding the water bottle was shaking...

That's it. I needed answers. I have to get to the bottom of that dream and there was one place that jumped out at me, another reality, really. Someone there had to have the means to answer my questions.

It's time to cross worlds again. I need to see the Smash Brothers.

* * *

 _ **And we're back! I intended on posting this before Halloween but, here we are. This one is going to be longer than the first two Halloween stories; the scope is a bit larger, than threat deadlier. What could be the meaning behind the strange dreams tormenting me at night? It's a lot more relevant to a Smash Brother than anyone may have suspected. Hardcore Nintendo fans may have recognized some imagery in there!**_


	2. CH 2: In the Land of Dreams

_**It's that time of year again! I wanted to have more chapters written this time but, not surprisingly, my free time dried up not too long ago and certain indulgences went on the backburner. But I did manage to write this one in time for Halloween. What begins as a trip to find answers about a strange, recurring dream spirals into something much greater. We're only two chapters in but I know for a fact that this is going to be the largest of the trilogy in terms in length and scope.**_

* * *

 _ **Chapter 2 – In the Land of Dreams (The Truth is Around There...)**_

I rubbed sleep from my eyes as the clandestine fortress brimmed to life. This secret room in the Nintendo World Store housed the D-WAM, an impossibly futuristic machine with the capability to connect our world with other pre-existing ones. I had long since earned the right to use it and today, I'd use it to find some peace regarding the visions haunting the corners of my subconscious.

Red light swept across my face until the facial recognition checked out.

"Hello Claude," R.O.B. greeted me with synthetic cheer. "Welcome back."

After a stretch and a yawn, I said, "Hey R.O.B." It's funny how dreams can drain you when you're supposed to be resting. I felt like I barely got any sleep.

"Did you have any particular destination today?" the mechanical gatekeeper asked.

"Dream Land." It made perfect sense, right? I'm having weird dreams, so let's go to the land of dreams. There has to be answers there.

In the center of the room was a dome that served as a visual of the other world. Fog within the glass swirled about before finally clearing, revealing an aerial view of Dream Land.

"Put me near Kirby's house," I added. "I don't want to end up dunked in the middle of Orange Ocean or something."

R.O.B. let out an obliging click, manipulating the machine's coordinate system to hone in on Kirby's home in the process. The viewpoint zoomed into Dream Land until it found a humble white home nestled next to a tree in emerald fields.

"Your destination awaits," R.O.B. announced. The transportation tube slowly filled with light, beckoning me. My body tingled before it went numb – like a million little needles poking and prodding my skin – as I was transformed into energy and sent rocketing into another universe.

I vaguely remembered crossing into Dream Land with a bird's eye view as I descended in a pillar of light. The frosted-top mountains, vibrant forests and glittering oceans were breathtaking from that perspective. It wasn't until I touched down that my senses fully came back to me. Sunlight filled my eyes and a combination of the sun's rays and warm air rolled across my skin. My eyes swept the familiar scene of grasslands stretching as far as the eye could see, clusters of trees bearing yellow fruit, and a rainbow assortment of stars topping small mounds of dirt. One day I'd have to ask about those stars and why they're everywhere. But... something was missing.

I swiveled around and found the little white dome with its chimney peaking over the roof. Kirby's house was right behind me all along.

"Nice job, R.O.B.," I said. "You got me right on point this time."

I went over to the front door and knocked. "Kirby, you home?" There was no response, and it had only just occurred to me that he might not even be here. Did I need R.O.B. to track him down?

"Come in," Kirby finally called out, his voice quiet and subdued.

I turned the star-shaped door knob – must be nice living in a place where you don't have to lock your doors – and ducked my head as I went inside. You see, the thing about Kirby's house is that it's Kirby-sized. It's one room with as much furniture as you can fit in such a small space. Reminds me of those tiny houses on HGTV.

And in the bed, half-tucked under blue sheets decorated in stars, was the pink puffball himself. Kirby slipped the sleeping cap off his head, rubbed his eyes and murmured, "Hi Claude."

"Hey Kirby," I said, sitting down on the couch. I ended up swallowing most of it with my body and my knees were pressed close to my chest. I must have looked like I was in some kid's playhouse. "If I knew you were asleep I would've come later."

"Don't worry about it, I'm usually up by now anyway." He started to yawn but thought better of it. "What brings you by? Did I forget about something happening today?"

"No, it's just... for the past week I've been having this weird dream every day. I need to talk about it with somebody."

And so, I told him everything. The frozen wasteland, the mall, that weird hole in space, the computer terminal... it's strange how easy it was to tell him, like the floodgates had opened. I hadn't said a word about the dreams since I started having them. Maybe I really needed to get it all off my chest.

"And every day I get further in the dream, up to the point with the hole in space and the computer this morning."

I read it clear as day on Kirby's face, the furrow of contemplation. "Huh..."

"Does my dream mean anything to you?"

"Well, some of it sounds vaguely familiar. I can't really place it, though. But what was interesting to me was that I had a weird dream too!"

"It's not like mine, is it?"

"Oh no, it wasn't nearly as abstract. In my dream it was my birthday, but everyone I saw either forgot about it or didn't care. I told myself that it wasn't really important, that I wasn't entitled to my friends' attention just because it was my birthday, but it still made me upset."

I knew where this was going. "I've seen this episode before. Let me guess, they were all pretending?"

"You're right, they all threw me a surprise birthday party. Everyone was there, even you. But this is where it gets weird... even though I should have been happy, I was still angry. Angry that they lied, angry that they snuck around and surprised me with a party. I was so angry that everyone began to leave because they didn't want to around me. That made me angry too. It scares me because it was irrational anger. I knew it didn't make sense at the time, but I couldn't control myself. I don't know what would have happened next if you hadn't woken me up."

The dream really affected Kirby. He hadn't made eye contact the entire time, as if hiding some deep shame. Then he finally looked at me with a level of sincerity and asked, "I'm not really like that, am I?"

"What? No way," I said. "You're one of the nicest people I know."

"Thanks." His attention turned to the window. "Hey, how about we get some fresh air and sunlight? I bet it'll make us feel better. C'mon!"

I gladly followed Kirby outside where I could stretch my limbs out the way they were meant to. And he was right – taking that little stroll through his neighborhood did help clear my mind a bit. Of course, Kirby's "neighborhood" was a lot of open space, since he didn't really live close to anyone. Further up the road was a mass of Dream Landers, which was the first signs of other people I'd seen since I got here.

"Do you think the Fountain of Dreams could tell us the meaning behind our dreams?" I wondered aloud.

"Oh, I know it can, but don't get your hopes up," Kirby said. "As you know, the Fountain is pivotal for maintaining the goodness and light that protects Popstar. I don't want to jeopardize that fragile balance unless it's an emergency."

"Yeah, you're right..." He must have heard the disappointment in my voice because he tried to save the conversation.

"But, hey! There's got to be other ways, right? Lylat's full of all kinds of gizmos and gadgets. I think I remember hearing Slippy talk about a dream machine or something like that before."

"That might be worth looking into," I said halfheartedly. The truth was, my attention was still on all the Dream Landers up the road. "Okay, what's all the commotion over there?"

"Looks like some friends coming to say 'hello.'"

I gave him a skeptical look that he missed completely. "You guys do that here? Travel in packs just to greet each other in the morning?"

"Hiiii!" Kirby called out to them, waving his little pink flaps over his head.

They took notice of Kirby and, assembling in a robotic formation, barreled straight toward us. I had a bad feeling, but Kirby looked unfazed, so I followed his lead.

"Good Morning everybody," he said to the agitated crowd that confronted us. There were so many of his friends and helpers here that I recognized – Bonkers, Plasma Wisp, Waddle Dee, Sir Kibble, Knuckle Joe – more than I could keep track of, honestly, and each with an unsettling glint in their eye.

Joe took a step forward as the spokesperson for the restless mob. "Kirby... you, the illegal faction called the Smash Brothers, and the invasive entity known as Claude have all been a thorn in the king's side. Let it be known that we will no longer tolerate your traitorous activities. Surrender peacefully and come with us or we will force your surrender."

"Is this another prank?" Kirby asked, but I had far more pressing matters on my mind.

"Did he just call me an 'invasive entity?'"

"Our loyalty to the king is no joke, and you'd do well to swear your own allegiance to him," one of the helpers in the crowd warned.

Kirby scratched his head. "King? You can't be talking about Dedede?"

"He will usher Dream Land into a new age of prosperity," Knuckle Joe declared to cheers from the crowd.

"Dedede? Really? What is going on here?" Kirby had trouble grasping what was happening. Not that I could blame him.

"You people sound like a cult right now," I said, which may have been a mistake. Knuckle Joe suddenly dropped into a battle stance.

"It's a real shame you couldn't see the light," said Joe, his voice low and volatile. "If you won't accept Dedede as your true king, we'll just have to beat you until you do!"

The last thing I expected when I came to Dream Land was a fight, but I was always prepared for danger whenever I crossed over into the Nintendoverse. I reached for my sword but froze partway; I felt a shift in the atmosphere. Like Joe, Kirby's voice and demeanor changed, and something about that gave me pause in a way the mob couldn't.

"You're garbage, Joe," Kirby started, slow and venomous, "Always have been. Truth is, I'm better at your abilities than you are. That's why they never considered you for the Smash tournaments. That's also why you went running to Dedede, isn't it?" Knuckle Joe opened his mouth to retort but Kirby drowned him out. "I was having a good day until this parade of losers showed up. Surprise, it's always Dedede ruining all the good things in my life!"

In the way he often did, Kirby manifested his trusty hammer out of thin air. Judging by the lack of response from the crowd, I was the only one worried that this would escalate into an all-out brawl.

Kirby inched towards them while brandishing the hammer. "You had the gall to show up near my house with this Dedede nonsense, so here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to personally pulverize each and every one of you until the only thing your crippled bodies can do is crawl and cry. And when you crawl back to your master with tears of fear and regret, I want you to let him know that today is his last day. Make of that what you will."

I had to put a stop to this, fast!

"Kirby, take my hand!" I said, reaching out for him. "I can warp us back to Earth!"

"And let them get away with this? Why would I do that?"

"You can't fight your friends! There's too many of them, and they're clearly not in their right minds."

He gave me a side glance that held all the venom and cruelty he planned to unleash on his former friends. In all the time I'd known Kirby, from the games to the moment we actually met, this was a side I'd never seen. I was looking into the eyes of a stranger. "Who are you to tell me what I can't do? Are you stabbing me in the back too?"

There was something dangerous behind what he _didn't_ say. The only thing worse than fighting his friends would be if I had to fight him. He took my silence as complacency and continued his standoff with Knuckle Joe. I had seconds to control the situation and reacted on pure impulse; freeing my blade from its sheathe, I jumped ahead of Kirby and released powerful shockwaves with two strokes of the sword.

"Air! Slash!"

Ripping the earth asunder, the shockwaves left a gulf that separated us from the mob. There was enough residual blowback from the Air Slash to send Joe tumbling into the crowd, toppling several of them over like bowling pins.

Kirby looked at me with a mixture of confusion and relief. "Huh. Not bad... but not good, either. You missed them with the main attack!"

Okay, that wouldn't defuse the situation for long. What do I do now? How do I prevent this from getting worse?

Sometimes I think the universe can read my mind and responds in its own way – its own way typically being the opposite of what I want at the time. A massive shadow suddenly blanketed the area. I looked into the sky to see the ominous silhouette of the Halberd against the sun. In all the chaos, we never saw it approaching. Now it was practically over us, and there was no telling what was going through Meta Knight's head right now.

A small light glimmered from the bottom of the airship. There was a flash, and then I was facing the ground, suspended in the air with Kirby in a zero-gravity field. I flopped around in some improvised air-swimming routine but couldn't break out of the weightless prison. Like fish caught on an invisible hook, Kirby and I were reeled into the sky by the tractor beam, leaving the fuming mob shrinking beneath us. For the second time today, I was spoiled with the breathtaking view of Dream Land's rolling green hills and snow-capped mountains, this time drifting into an unknown future.


	3. CH 3: Rust in the Sky

_**Chapter 3 – Rust in the Sky (The Weight of Your Sins)**_

It wasn't until the floor sealed shut that the tractor beam ceased, dropping us right onto the cold, hard metal below. A quick sweep of the room told me we were in one of the Halberd's cargo bays.

"Kirby, are you okay?" I whispered without making a move.

After a moment, he responded. "Yeah..."

"No, are you really okay? Everybody was acting weird back there, but you were pretty far gone."

"I... yeah, I'm okay now."

"Sir Kirby!" I heard someone call out from across the room.

Rows of dim lights shimmered to life along the ceiling, bringing out the rust-color of the bay. At the end of the room were the crew members of the Halberd and underlings to Meta Knight: A Waddle Dee in a sailor hat, the skull-faced Axe Knight, and the violet-armored Mace Knight.

"Over here!" Sailor Dee waved us over to them.

"Thanks for the save," Kirby said.

"We're just glad you still seem to be you," Mace Knight said.

The trio ushered us through a series of metal corridors in the Halberd's lower decks until we all squeezed into an elevator.

"From the timely arrival, I take it you guys know what's going on around here?" Kirby asked.

The ensuing silence and nervous glances between the trio didn't fill me with confidence.

"Um... it's best if we wait for the captain to explain," Axe Knight squeaked.

We were taken straight to the ship's bridge by the elevator. From the glass panels I could see the clouds above whisk by as the Halberd cut through the skies. All around the bridge were series of monitors and controls for a crew much larger than what Meta Knight employed, each screen glimmering with technical details or live feeds of various regions in Dream Land. And at the center of command was a bird man in a captain's uniform, keeping a watchful eye.

"Captain Vul, they're here!" Sailor Dee announced.

The captain turned to greet us. "Ah, welcome aboard Kirby... and friend."

"I've been coming here how long now?" I whispered to Kirby. "How do people not know me?"

Kirby responded by nudging me in the leg.

"Captain," he said, "do you know what that was about down there?"

Vul motioned us to follow him to a row of monitors. After a few taps on a keyboard, each screen started to play footage of mobs like the one we encountered, suddenly forming and attacking other Dream Landers.

"It started today," Captain Vul said. "Entire swaths of the population swearing loyalty to King Dedede and attacking anyone that wouldn't. It's happening all over Dream Land. There's no rhyme or reason behind it that we could identify."

"And it's just happening randomly?" Kirby asked.

Vul gave a solemn nod. "And if it keeps going at this pace, it'll be the most violent, catastrophic event Dream Land has seen in ages."

"We're missing a pretty obvious piece of this puzzle," I said. "What about Dedede? You've got eyes and ears on him, right?"

"We assume he's holed up in his castle," Mace Knight said, "but the truth is he hasn't been seen since yesterday."

Kirby wore a thoughtful gaze that went well beyond the windows. "This doesn't really seem like his style..."

I shrugged. "Who else would brainwash half the population into worshipping him?"

"There's just something _off_ about this."

But I had to agree. I've played enough Kirby games to know that Dedede was rarely the mastermind behind whatever darkness descended on Dream Land.

"Do you think he's some kind of pawn?" I asked.

"Or it's a frame job," Kirby said.

"That's a pretty big frame job..."

Our speculation was interrupted by the sudden howl of a siren. The crew scrambled to their stations as every monitor filled with the image of a grassy field being ripped asunder.

"Captain!" Axe Knight cried out. "A large explosion was detected in Grass Land!"

"Rassa frassa blassa!" Vul growled. "Set a course for the Rainbow Islands!" My stomach lurched as the halberd made a banking turn for its new destination.

"Things are getting worse," Kirby murmured.

Vul sighed, his eyes tired. "All we've managed to do so far is mitigate the damage, and as you can see, we haven't been very effective..."

"Don't let this deter you, Captain! We have to protect Dream Land!"

As Kirby kept trying to boost the spirits of the crew, I found myself scanning the bridge once more. A nagging feeling had picked away at the back of my mind since we got here. Something was out of place. Or rather, missing entirely.

"I don't see Meta Knight," I said.

An uncomfortable silence blanketed the bridge. The crewmembers were trapped in a cross of anxiety and surprise.

"Claude's right," Kirby said. "Shouldn't Meta Knight be a part of this?"

"Lord Meta Knight is..." Captain Vul hesitated, choosing his words carefully. "He doesn't need visitors in his condition."

"His condition? What happened to him?"

"It's not the Dedede thing, is it?" I asked.

"We're not sure what it is," Sailor Dee said. "But I can't stand seeing him like this."

"Shut it!" Vul barked, pointing at his subordinate.

Sailor Dee cowered in the face of his captain's wrath but still managed to say, "It's Kirby! He should know."

Like the flick of a light switch, I felt sudden heat and tension radiating next to me. I knew what was coming before Kirby said a word.

"What nonsense is this? Do you idiots understand the gravity of our current situation? I don't care what condition you think Meta Knight's in, you get him out here to deal with this or I'll tear this ship apart looking for him and drop it into the ocean." Kirby lowered his voice and, with a mischievous smile, added, "It's not like I haven't done it before."

Frightened squeals and shuffling of feet followed as Axe and Mace Knight fled the bridge, presumably to find Meta Knight. Vul's eyes nearly bulged from shock before he tried to save face... by hiding it under the visor of his hat.

I kept quiet, knowing firsthand how volatile Kirby was when this happened before. Anything could provoke him. His words were harsh, but we were all better off getting scolded than beaten into a pulp.

Axe and Mace Knight returned to the bridge pushing what I originally thought was a bundle of ratty sheets until the folds fell away to reveal the grimy mask of Meta Knight.

His cape was wrinkled and tattered, mask smudged with dirt, and sword nowhere to be found. Meta Knight's appearance was usually nothing less than immaculate—worthy of the "Lord" status his underlings bestowed on him—so I was surprised to see him like this. It was bad.

Meta Knight staggered forward and stopped as if the effort overwhelmed him. His movement was lethargic and the yellow eyes behind the mask lost all their spark.

"Meta?" I said, but there was no reaction.

"What's wrong with him?" Kirby demanded.

"He's been like this all day," Axe Knight said. "We don't know how to snap him out of it."

Captain Vul gave a pensive hum. "He's a shell of his former self. I hate seeing Lord Meta Knight reduced to this."

Kirby bounded over to Meta Knight with none of the pep and joy he was known for. "Meta Knight, this is pathetic! What happened to you?"

Meta Knight released a deep sigh. "The weight of my sins couldn't be more apparent."


	4. CH 4: Déjà Vu

_**Chapter 4 – Déjà Vu (A Never-ending Halloween?)**_

"The weight of my sins couldn't be more apparent."

"What does that even mean?" I asked.

Meta Knight gripped his cape, held it like a shield against the world. "I've always tried to bring order and justice to Dream Land in my own way. But the truth is I've been a fool... lying to myself and everyone around me... I deluded myself into believing steel and fury would be Dream Land's salvation.

"Kirby's way was unsustainable—that is what I told myself. It's how I built pride and an ironclad will. What I thought was a symbol of strength only blighted Dream Land. It's never worked... I am a failure, and I can no longer be a part of this flying monstrosity's operation. I apologize, my friends..."

Before we could respond, Meta Knight enveloped himself in his cape and vanished.

Has everyone here lost their mind?

"You're all useless to me!" Kirby screamed, frightening the crew.

"Kirby!" I said without realizing it.

He slowly turned to me, but instead of looking into endless pools of rage, I saw obliviousness, then regret.

"I lost myself again, didn't I," he said, more of a realization than a question.

"Just for a bit," I said. "But at least we know you can be snapped out of it... kinda."

"Sorry..."

Sailor Dee gasped. "If Kirby can be brought back from that, maybe we can snap Lord Meta Knight out of his funk after all!" He scuttled off the bridge, his voice echoing back to us, "I'll go find him! He's done this a few times, but he never leaves the ship!"

Captain Vul brought a palm to his face in frustration and embarrassment, then turned his attention back to the monitors. I took the opportunity to pull Kirby aside and out of the crew's earshot.

"The other you might've been harsh but... he ain't exactly wrong," I whispered. "The Halberd is pretty ineffective without Meta Knight in charge, and who knows if he'll be back to normal any time soon. If we're handling this Dream Land situation, it might be time to call in another battleship..."

Kirby got the gist of what I was saying. "We were talking about Lylat earlier," he said, "but do you think it's necessary? I've protected Dream Land for as long as I can remember, and I've rarely gone for outside help."

I guess even a puffball has his pride.

"I just have this... really weird feeling," I explained. "It's the same feeling I got with the haunted house and the costume curse. Call it superstition or supernatural, but this is the season for that kind of stuff."

"It's not even Halloween anymore."

"When we're talking about the most popular holidays, the spirit of the holiday is rarely contained to the day itself." Examples of holidays encroaching on each other spilled across my mind. "Think of it like a Halloween marathon on TV, or the Hallmark channel and how they unleash a black hole full of Christmas movies overflowing with washed up 90's stars all through November and December. Even if it's not Halloween now, the spirit is still there."

Kirby gave me a narrowed, skeptic gaze. "So, what you're saying is that we're being haunted by the spirit of Halloween."

"Uh... I guess that's one way to put it."

"At the very least, I agree that something's fishy about all this. Maybe it's better to be safe than sorry." Kirby bounced over to Captain Vul and tugged on his jacket like a child in need. "Captain, would it be possible to contact Star Fox from here?"

Captain Vul's beak turned up in a sour curl, but he obliged. The largest screen at the center of the bridge buzzed to life as a call was sent out to the Great Fox. We waited about a minute for the call to go through, but instead of a fox we were greeted by the face of a human.

"Hiiii!" Kirby waved, but I was a bit unsettled by the change.

"Niko? Where's Fox?" I asked.

"He's busy dealing with a problem," Niko said.

"I wonder if it's a bigger problem than ours," Kirby thought aloud.

"And here we were calling him for help," I said. "You think we should do him a favor?"

"I don't see why not," Niko interjected. "You scratch his back, I scratch his back."

"...When does he scratch our backs?"

"Fox doesn't have to do anything for _you_."

Kirby grunted and nearly pushed me aside. "Alright, you listen to me. Shut your FANBOY MOUTH and get Fox here now!"

"You don't have to be nasty," Niko murmured, slinking out of view.

Kirby turned to me and winked.

"I thought you lost it again," I said.

He giggled. "I just wanted to know what it felt like while still being in control of myself."

Guess I couldn't blame him. As much as we like to stress courtesy and kindness, sometimes being loud and rude gets the best results.

Fox McCloud came into view and took a seat. No matter how hard he tried to contain it, exasperation was written all over his face at the sight of us. "Why is it that every time you people have a problem, you come to me?"

"Wait... who else is there?" Kirby asked.

"There's a Yoshi situation, which... you'll have to see it to understand, but naturally it got dumped in my lap."

"We have a situation in Dream Land and was hoping for the backing and resources of the Great Fox to help contain it."

Fox sighed, massaged the bridge of his snout. "How about this: you keep Yoshi out of my hair, and we'll talk about this Dream Land thing."

"We need to do this fast," I said. "Things keep escalating here."

"Then you better get over here before I escalate my fist into Yoshi's face."

"We're on our way!" Kirby said, holding an improvised salute until the feed cut out.

"We'll stay on top of things here until you return with reinforcements," said Captain Vul, a very broad, very public scowl on his face.

"Good luck, captain!"

Kirby latched on to my wrist and pulled me along. We went down a side corridor and through a door, out onto one of the ship's decks and into the howling winds. I consider my fear of heights to be in line with that of a normal person, so it was understandable for me to crawl across the deck on my hands and knees after seeing the dwarfed landscapes of Dream Land below and feeling the wind literally try to sweep me off my feet. Kirby bopped along without a care. A rogue gust could've sent either of us plummeting to the earth below; I think he forgot that, between the two of us, he's the only one that can fly.

A twinkling star zipped along the skies before making a beeline straight for us. The warp star came to a screeching halt in the center of the deck, waited like a loyal pet for Kirby to acknowledge it. Kirby turned around and finally noticed me.

"That's a silly way to get around," he said, suppressing a laugh.

I felt my cheeks burn. "I'm not being silly," I said, managing to stand upright.

Kirby patted the surface of the warp star with comfort and familiarity. "There's something I wanted to show you. I've been thinking about some things you said about the warp star..."

"You mean finding a better way to touch down without crash-landing face-first into the ground?"

"Uh... that too. Anyways, I've been working on alternatives. Take a look at this!"

The warp star quaked, its movements rapid and erratic as it stretched, twisted and turned, kicking up stardust in its wake. In a poof of smoke, it transformed entirely into a contraption of the sky. The nose of the vehicle, and its base of power, was the star; its body whisked outward, its carriage like a pearly, crystalized gale.

I recognized this from Milky Way Wishes—Kirby used it to infiltrate and destroy Nova's core.

"No way," I murmured, circling the star chariot in disbelief.

"I knew you'd get a kick out of that," Kirby said, beaming. "But that's just one of the starship's forms! Check this one out!"

Kirby slapped the chariot, prompting another round of transformation. This time its body thinned and stretched a bit; the star split into two smaller clones, spaced along the elongated form like two wheels. What was once a star chariot morphed into a shooting starcycle.

I could swear I saw a pristine gleam wash over it once the process was complete.

It took a lot of effort not to throw myself onto the starcycle. "Where have you been hiding this!"

"I don't normally bring out the vehicles unless it's an emergency, and this seemed like one, yes?"

I nodded, my eyes glued to the starcycle. I'm not a schemer but I could admit that I was contemplating several ways to take one home with me.

Kirby leapt onto the starcycle, which hovered to life from his touch. "C'mon, let's go! We're running on borrowed time here!"

He didn't have to tell me twice. I jumped on the seat behind him and braced for takeoff. The stars gave a soft whirr, and then we were off. I hadn't even realized we were moving until we left the Halberd behind. Soon, we punched through a cluster of clouds and kept along until we pierced Popstar's atmosphere. Behind us, Dream Land melded and shrank into the rest of the landscapes that made up the star-shaped planet Kirby called home.

"Lylat, here we come!" Kirby said once we were a good distance away from Popstar.

We picked up an immeasurable amount of speed, blasting into the depths of space, a streak of light against the dark cosmos.


End file.
